$3000 heirloom investment
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berettaprofessor
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Don't want to burst your bubble Coogs, but 25% on a gun from the 60's is a loss. Annual inflation since 1965 is 4.2% and any gun you bought for $100 in 1965 should be worth over $700 now just to keep up with inflation.
kilimanjaro
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Appropriately enough, the .22 Diamondback is worth about half of the .44 Python, generally speaking.
Kreyzhorse
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Very few guns are an investment. Buy a well made gun, shoot it, take care of it and pass it down. That should be value enough. Do not expect to make your kid's kids rich off a gun you buy, and shoot, even occasionally.
Machineguntony
New member
The only heirloom guns nearly guaranteed to go up in value AND BEAT INFLATION, if you shoot them to your hearts content are NFA machine guns. Limited supply, skyrocketing demand.
I agree that a gun that has increased only 25% in value since the 60s/70s is a loss due to inflation.
The value of a gun like a Colt snake gun (I have several and love em) is very condition dependent, so you can't shoot it that much without affecting the value. Condition is very important.
With an NFA machine gun that isn't NIB, as long as you don't wreck it, the condition is only a very minor part of the valuation.
You could put 200,000 rounds through it, and it'd still go up an average of 10% per year. So you have to give a little more for a MAC, like $2000 more, but it's worth it.
Oh, there's also the issue of where you live. But that's another issue.
I agree that a gun that has increased only 25% in value since the 60s/70s is a loss due to inflation.
The value of a gun like a Colt snake gun (I have several and love em) is very condition dependent, so you can't shoot it that much without affecting the value. Condition is very important.
With an NFA machine gun that isn't NIB, as long as you don't wreck it, the condition is only a very minor part of the valuation.
You could put 200,000 rounds through it, and it'd still go up an average of 10% per year. So you have to give a little more for a MAC, like $2000 more, but it's worth it.
Oh, there's also the issue of where you live. But that's another issue.
larryh1108
New member
When the OP mentioned heirloom I don't think he meant it as an investment but more of something to be proud of and show the family as a piece of his (or her) past. Unless I missed it, the future value is a moot point. It's about the history of it, not the $$ value. At least, that's my take on what an heirloom is.
I would invest in a nice double barrel shotgun from a reputable maker. It may even be used. But $3K is not going to go far in the world of doubles. Good shotguns wear in, not out. 
Take it hunting, shoot some birds, build a few memories with it and the value as an heirloom will increase tremendously. Besides, in 50 years who knows what the gun laws will be but a double will most likely be the last thing they ban. Who wants an heirloom that you have to bury in the backyard with orders that no one in the family will ever mention that it even exists.
Take it hunting, shoot some birds, build a few memories with it and the value as an heirloom will increase tremendously. Besides, in 50 years who knows what the gun laws will be but a double will most likely be the last thing they ban. Who wants an heirloom that you have to bury in the backyard with orders that no one in the family will ever mention that it even exists. 
Full Auto was a hell of an investment. Made my $$ off of them. I'm hoping the Ruger Maximum is another. Most of the "average" ones I have I paid, on average, about $350.00 for. Been lookin' at what they are selling for now? A little more than 25% I'd say. I guess 25% was just a figure I pulled out of the air. Sorry, unless the Gov't pulls he plug and starts confiscation, I would say that guns are one hell of an investment, JMHO, Coogs.
Coogs, let's try and put this a different way. Nobody is saying that YOU didn't make some quality investments in guns. But telling us how great you did on money you spent in the 1980's is as relevant as me telling you to go purchase Yahoo stock.
So, exactly (precisely!) what guns do you spend $3,000 on, right now -- today, that's going to bring you a pile of dough in 30 years?
Glocks? Anything Remington (!) is shipping right now? Maybe a 1911 or AR-15 (ya got 30 different manufacturers of either)
Maybe now is the time to spend $2,500 on a Python. They did make only a half million of them.
So, exactly (precisely!) what guns do you spend $3,000 on, right now -- today, that's going to bring you a pile of dough in 30 years?
Glocks? Anything Remington (!) is shipping right now? Maybe a 1911 or AR-15 (ya got 30 different manufacturers of either)
Maybe now is the time to spend $2,500 on a Python. They did make only a half million of them.
I think this is sound advice for an heirloom gun. Forget any handgun, and most rifles, a traditional double barrel shotgun is likely the last thing a gun grabbing government will go after.
Look at England, and other Commonwealth nations, pistol, and most rifles banned. Pump and auto shotguns banned or heavily restricted. Doubles are slightly restricted, but are "PC" and more allowable.
If you want something that has the greatest chance of being able to be legally owned in your family, a couple generations down the line, from here, the double shotgun looks like the best bet.
Here's another point, specifically regarding investment. You have to make a choice, you can have an investment, OR you can have an heirloom. Can't have both in a single gun.
Because, in order to get the return on your investment, you have to SELL it. If you sell it, its not there to be passed down in your family.
(ok if you can get a family member to buy it, but then its still not the same thing, now is it?)
I have one heirloom gun, my grandfather's Ithaca double barrel. It's been in my family since he bought it custom made to his order, in 1909. It will, in the fullness of time, go to my son, or my daughter, to be held in their turn, and passed on to my granddaughter (or grandson, if one comes along in the next few years,
) WHEN they are old enough to be responsible enough to ensure it stays in the family.Its not worth much on the market, a plain field grade gun, in about 80% condition. Last time I checked, maybe $400, today? maybe $600
But the value to ME, and my family is beyond mere money. I have some of my Dad's guns, now too. Again, for me, keepsakes beyond price, because I Still have them, and don't have my Dad any more. Grandpa and I used that shotgun together when I was young, and I have many memories of being with Dad and those guns. NO DOLLAR amount can do what those guns do when I think about their (and my) history.
I still take Dad's Government model to the range on Father's day. I usually don't shoot it too well, dang breeze keeps putting tears in my eyes, but I take it out anyway. Some things are just ...special.
If you get it, you know just what I'm talking about. If you don't you probably won't understand, but trust me, for some of us, it really matters.
Like I said, 25% was a figure I pulled outta the air. Not going to get in a pizzin contest here, I was just stating that I had been investing in guns SINCE the 80's, and still do. Particularly Rugers, particularly the Maximum. I don't know stocks, bonds, CD's any of that investment type stuff, so, I work with what I know. And besides, I get to take my investment out of the safe now and again, clean it, play with it, even take it out of the house and shoot it. Can ya do that with a 100 dollar bill or a stock certificate? Coogs.
Pond James Pond
New member
Heirlooms are something that you pass on to your children and they pass on to theirs. Monetary value, and sentimental value ought to go hand in hand, in this respect or there is little motive for the recipient to keep it, rather than sell and pocket the proceeds.
So, I would pick something that speaks to you and speaks of you. Something that gels with your personality, and something, if shot, would also elicit fond memories in the inheritor.
On a more practical note, it is hard to imagine how things, politically, will evolve/devolve in the decades to come. So would it be something that could, conceivably, be summarily confiscated in the future, such as a soul-corrupting EBR if the gun-tide turns. In this respect, something discreet might be wise also.
So my suggestion would be a handgun. Custom 1911's spring to mind if you're an auto-loader type. Perhaps a Korth if you're a wheel-gunner.
That said, the side-by-side shotgun mentioned above has a nice fatherly sound to it too!!
Either way, the item should have character and that is not always the same as cost. A Sphinx, whilst a fine and expensive weapon, seems to me a little cold and clinical as a personal item. A Freedom Arms, or engraved SAA might seem to have a bit more soul, for example.
Some points to consider, perhaps?
So, I would pick something that speaks to you and speaks of you. Something that gels with your personality, and something, if shot, would also elicit fond memories in the inheritor.
On a more practical note, it is hard to imagine how things, politically, will evolve/devolve in the decades to come. So would it be something that could, conceivably, be summarily confiscated in the future, such as a soul-corrupting EBR if the gun-tide turns. In this respect, something discreet might be wise also.
So my suggestion would be a handgun. Custom 1911's spring to mind if you're an auto-loader type. Perhaps a Korth if you're a wheel-gunner.
That said, the side-by-side shotgun mentioned above has a nice fatherly sound to it too!!
Either way, the item should have character and that is not always the same as cost. A Sphinx, whilst a fine and expensive weapon, seems to me a little cold and clinical as a personal item. A Freedom Arms, or engraved SAA might seem to have a bit more soul, for example.
Some points to consider, perhaps?